Jonah 2:2.
 

Is this verse saying hell is not eternal?

Hell is a state of mind so the choice is yours as to whether it's eternal or not. :smile:

(Jonah 2:2 and said: “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and you heard my voice). understanding Jonah's situation, gives an understanding of what was actually happening. this verse is NOT!... saying "Hell", if you're referring to a fiery place, "is eternal." because there IS NO "fiery place", for ANYONE.

where did the verse say Jonah was in? (Jonah 1:17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights). Jonah was in the "Great fish", maybe a whale's Belly. he had been swallowed up because of running from Jehovah God. NOTICE, what happened to Jonah after he had prayed to Jehovah God ,(Jonah 2:17 10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land).

it wasn't a fiery place in which MANY are falsely taught to believe. concerning where the wicked death goes. ANYONE can see clear as day...if they chose the truth, where Jonah was. in the Belly of a sea creature! IF, Jehovah had NOT allowed that "Big fish" to vomit Jonah up, he would have died there. Jonah was a man of God, he knew there was NO fiery place for anyone. he knew what "HELL" really was...a place for the dead, a GRAVE! in Jonah's case, if he had died there, that would in a sense be his grave.

so, "HELL", is NOT "Eternal", Jesus showed us this when he said ...(John 5:28,29 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice. and come forth those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation). peace

worship is eternal, if you are in a place of worship you are truly there
if it seems those fears are designed to keep you from that place, then seek it all the more

Hell is a metaphor, me thinks.
It is and is not a fiery place depending on how me thinks.
It is and is not an inescapable belly of a beast depending on how me thinks.
It is and is not my state of mind, depending on how me thinks.

Sometimes when me thinks too much, I can find myself stuck in thought hell.
It is easy and yet difficult to get back out, all I need to do is stop thinking about the bad things I am thinking about, and stop feeling bad about what I am thinking, which it turns out ain't always so easy. A few days of this is about all I can take before I start crying "Why me lord?". No wonder Jonah had to call out for some help to get back out.

hell cannot be eternal if the philosophers have it right!
because for something to be eternal it has to have always existed, no beginning or end. anything created thus has to have an end
this of course means we are eternal, and that's undisputed among most Christians
but returning to hell, something that didn't once exist can't exist forever
it scarcely makes sense to think hell always existed if the beginning was perfection
and philosophy posits non-locality in time and space as a first principle, the same as quantum mechanics does and it's no co-incidence to find science confirming a spiritual principle
hell also makes no logical sense, what does God get out of it? nothing
the greatest relief i ever got was realising that hell is a mistaken idea as to what it is like and i also admire those who struggle with the concept as people close to God

Let us see: Jonah 2:2 reads

He said:

“In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.


Hell is not even mentioned.


As I have told people, if a person stops using the King James Bible and start using one of the better, new translations such as NIV, then "Hell" disappears.

Even the New King James Version has made Hell disappear.

And he said:

“I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction,
And He answered me.
“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
And You heard my voice.

I totally agree!, the Bible we use, uses the word "Grave:, which is what Sheol mean if many do their research. satan knew what he was doing when he had man began to teach falsely about a "Hell" being, "Hellfire." and a place where "demons live," when the Bible CLEARLY showed that the wicked angels where kicked straight to Earth by Jesus and his Angels. :smile:

Jehovah God and Jesus, NEVER created a "Hellfire", for the wicked. when people in the days of old burn their children in fire as a sacrifice to a false God. Jehovah God was very upset, and had them destroyed.

see (Jerm. 19:1-3 ,Thus says the Lord: “Go and get a potter’s earthen flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests. And go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I will tell you. and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will bring such a catastrophe on this place, that whoever hears of it, his ears will tingle).

verses 4, and 5 “Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents. (they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind."

so why would Jehovah and Jesus, as someone told me..."Later created a HELL...FIRE", in order to burn the wicked or disobedient forever. it would NOT benefit those two. NOR do they have to Heart to torture ANYONE! peace

' God was very upset and had the wicked destroyed '

Now that's hypocritical, he destroyed the wicked by being wicked and destroying....

Well, it seems someone's God always wants to see someone's enemies punished and/or destroyed. It seems for many, a good God is a God of Power and Smite! Of course, in keeping with this thread, God does seem to favor the fishes, why is that?

Tyrion Lannister - Game of Thrones
"The Lord of Light wants his enemies burned, the Drowned God wants them drowned. Why are all the gods such vicious c*nts? Where is the god of t*ts and wine?"

Genesis 19
19:24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;

Genesis 7
"20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits.[e][f] 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark."

Joshua 6
15 On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the town as they had done before. But this time they went around the town seven times. 16 The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the town! 17 Jericho and everything in it must be completely destroyed[a] as an offering to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies. 18 “Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel. 19 Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury.” 20 When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it. 21 They completely destroyed everything in it with their swords—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys.

Reading the ot is like a Horror Story, so many abhorrent tales.

[quote=BigJohn]Let us see: Jonah 2:2 reads

He said:

“In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.

/QUOTE]

BigJohn,

Amazing Grace...…"I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see". Let's remember these lyrics and connect the dots between Jonah, the Apostle Paul and Jesus.

Jonah was in the 'realm of the dead'......This means separated from God spiritually which was the death that God promised when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit. God had promised that 'surely you will die'. This separation from God was spiritual death. Now Jonah was in the belly of the whale for 3 days. Those would have been 3 days of total darkness(blindness)….he was blind but when he was expelled he could say...'now I see'.

Fast forward to Acts 9:8...…"Saul(Paul) got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing".....vs.9..."For 3 days he was blind". Acts 9:17....."Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord--Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here---has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Being filled with the Holy Spirit, Saul could see again by the amazing grace of God.

Everyone is familiar with Jesus being in the tomb for 3 days.....tomb being synonymous with death(and blindness). It is beyond coincidence that all 3 stories are related by the 3 days of blindness and symbolic death.

Back to Amazing Grace.....the giving of the Holy Spirit was the grace of God.

There is an additional observation concerning Jonah that is a lesson for all Christians. God's deliverance of Nineveh angered Jonah. What I see here is that Jonah did not believe that Nineveh should have been saved. Jonah went to Nineveh and proclaimed that God would justly overturn Nineveh because of its wickedness. When God did an about face and saved Nineveh it was too much for Jonah and he was angered. Jonah had reverted to believing that he knew what was right and just and, in effect, was questioning God. The lesson I see is that a lot of Christians preach what they think is justified hellfire and damnation. They become victims of their own self-righteousness, fueled into judgment by the pride of their egos. The Book of Jonah demonstrates how quickly some Christians can lose their way. Jonah strayed from his own words from Jonah 2:8....."Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs."

Jonah then proceeded to quickly make an idol of his own pride and ego when he was angered by the grace of God. Read the closing verses of Jonah....Jonah 4:9-11. God gives Jonah a good and well deserved upbraiding.....putting him back in his place.